THE KJNGFISHE^S 



PERHAPS it is the fatal gift of beauty which prevents the 

 kingfisher from being common anywhere. Certainly no 

 bird is more ruthlessly slaughtered by any man who has a 

 chance of shooting him, either as a proof of skill in marks- 

 manship, or for the sake of the dried, distorted, and ex- 

 pressionless skin generally spoken of as " a stuffed bird" 

 But there is many a quiet reach on the broad river, 

 many a secluded nook along the stream, where still he 

 holds his own. How often, in the stillness of a summer 

 morning, when the mist was lying on the water, has the 

 light beat of oar blades broken suddenly the silence 

 of some sanctuary among the willows 1 And then, as the 

 startled wild-duck struggled noisily up out of the reeds, 

 as the gaunt heron spread his great wings for flight, 

 the kingfisher, with straight and rapid course, flashed 

 along the shore, the luminous blue of his bright plum- 

 age showing on the water like a flame. How often, too, 

 the fisherman has started at the passing vision of those 

 swift and splendid wings ! 



